The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1887-09-03
SOME FOREIGN FLAGS
WHY THEY FLY so OFTEN OVER
NEW YORK HOTELS.

the Nan IN Chorgc % the Bunung Iel0
Some Interesting Facts About It-Fiags
Tloated IN Honor Of Distinguished
visitors.
The lag VI Stun has been flying over tie
Fifth Avenue hotel for week past, and tho
strange standard has attracted the attention
Of thousands Of passersby. Tue bo,ly Of tho
Gag Is blood red with q white elephant In the
center. 1t was raised In honor Of his royal
hishncss, Prince Devanwongse.
Asked where he obtained the flag, one
Of the proprietors called up Mr.. Albert Love
Toy, the head porter of the hotel. "Mr. Lovejoy
has charge Of the flags and can give you all the
information you want on the subject" Mr..
Lovejoy came up 10 the desl, in response to
the summons.
YES" he said, when the flag was men,
toned. ayes, we are flying the flag Of Siam
today IN honor Of his royal highness, and a
strange flag il is. doubt il it has ever
toated over any building in the United States
before, except SiameSe consular buildings.
Al any rate 1t is very seldom seen here. We
secured this one for the occasion from the
Samesc consul general. 1t has always been
our custom 10 raise the national flag OF q
country when distinguished people the:efrom
stop under our roof.
"What flags have we flcated under such
circumstances, Wen, so many | can hardly
recall them all now Let me sec: We hosted
the English flag when the Prince Of Wales
was here On his famous visit in 1860 We
had a dag made 10 order for that occasion,
and GftcrNarl raised the same flag when the
Duke of Edinburgh was guest at the hotel.
We have always kept M English flag on
hand since, Then We raised the Brazilian flag
when Dom Pedro stopped here. He Is, perhaps,
the only reigumg monarch, except Kalakau1,
who ever Travelled IN this country At differ
ent times during the las, twenty-eight Years
we have raised the dragon Of China, the tri-
color OF France, the German, Spanish, Co
reun and japanese flags, and now the white
elephant of Siam. These have been raised at
different times when embassies from these
countries have come 10 make us visit.
AS OCCASION REQUIRES,
"Do we keep these different flags on handi
Hardly. We'd find it pretty expensive to
keep all the flags we might he called upon to
use from time to time, and If we undertook
TO do so we'd have TO own every national flag
| under the sun, for we never know who may
be coming next. We can generally secure
the particular flag we need for all occasion
from some Of the flag makers, who have
them on hand, or else from the people them
selves, who very likely have one or more
with them, or, as we did in this case, borrow
It from the consul Of government whose
representative we wish to do special honor TO- 1"
allow about the American fng; do you fly
that very ofteur
~Well, at cvory chance we can get we have
the stars and stripes flying. We have one
very large American flag. 22xH feet, which
We only put up lin quist and pleasant
weather; II we should putt up IN storm Il
would tear things all to pieces. We are 80
careful Of this flag that we make 1t last four
or five years. Then we have smaller Ameri-
can fags which we use on ordinary occa-
sions and In inclement weather.
"What Americans do you fly the flag for
when they como to the houseV
"Always for a president Of the United
States, or governor Of New York, hut not
habitually for any other person. Senators,
generals, or other distinguished men when
they come here on some state occasion, or In
public capacity, have the flag raised in
their honor, but not when they come Us pri-
vate citizens only"
"What presidents have stopped at the
housep
81 can remember that Lincoln. Grant,
Hayes, Garfield, Arthur and Cleveland have
all stopped here. Over each of these prcsi-
dents we have kept the old AaG flying, and
let me tell you, the stars and stripes is the
prettiest bunting that ever floated over this
or any other hotei."--New York Commercial
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